4

•••

She pushed the balcony doors open, and walked over to the edge, the pat-pat sound of her foot on the floor very audible.

The full moon was out, unobscured in the cloudless dark sky.

Muted saxophone music was coming from below, and she glanced down, fully expectant to see the men who had moved on to drinking at one of the lounge areas visible from up there. However, the bulk of them were no longer to be found.

Only one had remained, and he seemed content to be in his own thoughts as he gazed out at the valleys from the edge of the ledge where he was reclining in a lounge chair.

For some reason, her eyes were drawn to the figure, curious all of a sudden about the lonely guy who was drinking by himself.

When they ate dinner earlier, only Chase had joined her; the rest of the men must have had theirs ahead of them because by the time she retired to bed they were out there playing cards and drinking booze.

Her host barely made any comments about her obvious discomfort with the guns lying around at one of the rooms, he merely watched her and made small talk.

She sensed the studious distance they kept with her, and she was grateful that none of them had threatened her with a gun yet.

They wouldn't dare however, it was all just her hyperactive imaginations playing with her.

He raised his glass to no one in particular and took one last swig on the remaining glass of vodka in his hand and sighed. His face was half hidden in the muted lighting of the pool not far away.

Chase had introduced her to some of his men; and she knew half of their faces. This man on the other hand, looked entirely unfamiliar.

"Chase!" The man called all of a sudden.

"What?" Chase retorted, appearing from the house.

"I need another drink."

"You need a maid, Cass."

The man who must be called Cass half-smiled.

"You're already enough for me."

Without another comment, Chase went back inside the house shaking his head.

Cass was left to himself again. He proceeded to remove his pressed white shirt to reveal very broad shoulders that tapered down to well-muscled slim waist, then he laid down on the cool slate floor.

Lyari's face instantly heated at the scene. She turned around, feeling embarrassed at her own voyeurism. She wasn't a teenager anymore, who gawks whenever she sees a hot guy.

This should be that time where she gets inside, into the bed and pretend like she never saw that. It was downright rude to keep ogling some guy as if he was just some piece of fresh meat.

She went in and locked the door behind her, fully resigned to the fact that she wasn't going to get enough sleep for the rest of the night.

Meanwhile, Cassian, who was lying low caught the movement up there in the balcony. Black hair and a white silk that shone in the moonlight was all he saw before the door closed audibly.

Frowning, he wondered if that had been his imagination or a ghost.

•••

"Are you sure you don't need an escort on the way?" Chase inquired for the third time that morning. The first time he asked, she'd thought he was joking. However as she met his serious gaze, she realized it wasn't the case.

No one in her normal life had ever asked to escort her anywhere, she certainly hadn't expected the client to do things for her.

"Why are you offering one anyway?"

He scrunched his eyebrows together and appraised her, for the first time. "You never know about these remote parts, there could be muggers out there."

"I hope that's not a thing around here..."

"It is, which is why I'm offering in the first place, but you keep refusing."

"I appreciate your offer, but I think I'll just stick to my plan," she then assured him, "besides, I've handled far more remote places."

She wasn't weak, if anything she was raised to look out for herself without depending on anyone, much less a guy.

Her bag was already stashed safely at the trunk; the only thing left for her to do was get in the car and she would be out of the parking area in no time.

"If that's what you want," Chase acceded with a nod, "I guess I'll see you in 50 days."

For the first time in the span of their meeting, her smile felt genuine. "And I'll be seeing you soon, Mr Romero."

"Have a safe trip, Miss Sage."

As she got in the driver's seat, Chase gestured at one of his men to open the gates.

Makati

"It's so good to be home," Lyari muttered loudly once she deposited her limp body on the sofa of her flat.

Dawn walked in a moment later from the bathroom, brandishing a wet towel. "Home sweet home. You've only been gone at the site for two days," her best friend reminded her.

"I feel like I've just lived through a different world for a month."

Dawn, with her colored bangs laughed at her exaggeration.

"Oh yeah? Tell me about it."

"I'm in serious trouble, Dawn. Do you know that?"

Dawn went to sit beside her sprawled form,  patting Lyari's leg in the process.

"I don't know, why are you asking me? When I've clearly no idea what kind of place you've been for the past 48 hours."

Her groan was muffled by the sofa.

"Come on, sit up and tell me everything."

She did as told, running her hand through her disheveled straight black hair in the process. "I should have just let Sue have that project, she was practically begging me to give it to her on the phone."

"Why? You already told me it was a hot shot client, and I know you to be a person who doesn't give up that easily. What really happened?"

Her friend's words made her think for a second.

She sighed. "Maybe you're right, what are we made of to give up that easily."

"And where are you off to?" Dawn asked when she stood up a moment later.

"I'm getting myself a drink, if you don't mind."

"Make that two."

She proceeded to get two bottles of soju and a can of San Mig light from the fridge.

Hours later, the sky had darkened. City lights glowed on the wide expanse of her glass sliding doors since they were at the 18th floor.

"I never knew social media could make a real detective out of me," Dawn  slurred, looking completely out of character as she lay there on the floor amidst some half-empty bottles of alcohol and pillows.

A Bio professor at a state college in Tabuk, Dawn was there to stay with Lyari for a week-long conference at one of those hotels downtown.

"Hey, I think I've found a website."

"What? You did?"

With a hint of sarcasm, she retorted "It's another business page, Chase deals with a lot of business. He's a businessman, a real one."

"Is he Chinese? What's with all these business?"

She ignored Dawn, reading through anything on all the information she could get about Chase Romero on the screen of her laptop. "Eh, nothing illegal so far. I'm getting frustrated in here."

"Huh. Maybe it's a secret society he belongs to, you know one of those traditional drug syndicates out there. I don't think we'll ever find out about it on Google."

"Hold on a second, I have a name. It says here, there had been a hotel chain in Cebu which he administered with a well-known family. Recently constructed last year, the family must be the people in this picture."

"What picture?" In a flash, Dawn was there beside her, trying to get a closer look. She didn't have her eyeglasses with her.

The said picture that popped up on the screen was a ribbon cutting ceremony, their source this time was a blogger from Cebu who was present at the time of the opening of the hotel. This one was different because the family was involved and their names were captioned in capital letters.

Does this look like multi-millionaire Luis Sandejas is back in the business? He and his family just attended the opening of one of their hotels.

Chase wasn't lying, despite how sketchy his group looked.

"Sandejas. Sounds posh."

"That's the name of the family he works for."

"Are you saying that family is doing some sneaky bad things?"

She frowned. "I don't know, I just got a hunch."

"And they're filthy rich, looks like a good old political game to me," Dawn mused.

"Yeah, maybe that explains the men I've just met."

Dawn gazed at her thoughtfully.

"I can't even begin to imagine how the environment is when you start working at the site. I sure hope it's worth it?"

A laugh echoed in her belly. "Totally, I'm in it for the money. I just have to take it all in stride, I guess, besides it's a really good deal."

"It's the whole point of this, right? You wanted to make sure you're not just dealing with potentially dangerous guys, it's all just about the money," 

Her eyes met her best friend's and she poked her nose. "You know me so well."

With a laugh, Dawn drank from the bottle in her hand. "Come on, I've known you since you were in diapers, Lyari."

The scented candle on the nightstand was wavering, and she laid aside the laptop to fix it. "You know, we do make a good team," she said, realizing that her friend was all she needed to reassure her she was going to be alright. God knows, somewhere inside, there was that sense of foreboding she couldn't quite ignore.

"You mean, we are really good at background checking," Dawn giggled and she joined in.

"Okay, enough of this. We should get to bed, you have a big day tomorrow Miss Avila."

It was her best friend's turn to groan.

"Please, don't remind me about it."

•••